The UMBC women’s swimming and diving team defended its America East Championship title on February 12, 2017, winning a third straight title and setting a conference record as the first team to surpass 900 points. This is the team’s sixth America East Championship, and their final score of 936.5 points was more than 200 points ahead of second-place finisher New Hampshire.

Competing in her final America East Championships Emily Escobedo ’17, psychology, won first place in the 200 breaststroke, setting a new school, conference, and meet record of 2:06.20, and making the cut for the upcoming NCAA Championship. She also earned the Dave Alexander Coaches Award for most points scored during the event, and was named Most Outstanding Swimmer for the fourth time.

“We are grateful for everything Emily has done for this program,” said head coach Chad Cradock ’97, psychology. “She has always been team first and has shown a commitment to the program from day one and we are excited to see what she can do at NCAA’s this year,”

Kayla Lilly ’17, interdisciplinary studies, joined Escobedo on the podium for the 200 breaststroke, finishing in second place (2:18.08). Hania Moro ’20, political science, (2:18.08) led a Retriever sweep of the 1,650 freestyle, winning first place, with Laura Massicotte ’19, mechanical engineering, and Carly Waters ’18, biological sciences, coming in second (17:00.68) and third (17:01.90) respectively.

UMBC also took all three medals in the 200 backstroke, with Emily Vance ’20, psychology, earning gold (2:00.63), Aleasha Knight ’19, psychology, earning silver (2:01.36), and Kylie Danin ’19, psychology, earning bronze (2:01.93). Vance also earned bronze in the 100 backstroke, and UMBC’s 400 freestyle relay team of Escobedo, Massicotte, Alissa Caulfield ’19, financial economics, and Haylee Committe ’20 earning second with a time of 3:23.07, out-touched by just .01 seconds at the wall.

Lauren Day ’17, biology, was named the America East Elite 17 recipient, an honor reserved for the student-athlete who most demonstrates academic excellence through earning the highest cumulative grade-point average in her sport.

Coach Cradock, whose team was again named Coaching Staff of the Year, shared, “we are proud of what the ladies accomplished.”

“We have a lot of depth, and it showed this weekend,” he reflected after the championship win. “It’s hard to win without depth and everyone on our team contributed to this title.”

The UMBC men’s swimming and diving team will compete for the CCSA title this weekend in Athens, Georgia, and the Retrievers will compete in the ECAC Championship at the U.S. Naval Academy, March 3–5.

Additional details on the championship are available from UMBC Athletics. For more coverage of UMBC’s victories at the championship, see SwimSwam, College Swimming, and America East.

All photos courtesy of America East Championship.

The spring  semester has  commenced, but the track and field athletes have already been on their feet. The Retrievers began the semester by heading up to State College in Pennsylvania to compete in the 2017 Sykes and Sabock Challenge Cup taking place on Friday, Feb. 3 and Saturday, Feb. 4. Overall, the men’s team took second in the meet and the women placed seventh with success found in a diverse number of running events for both.

Sophomores Jamal Cody and Erin Patrice stepped onto the track for the short distance races, competing in the 60 meter hurdles and 60 meter dash, respectively. Cody’s times gradually became faster throughout his event, placing 8.18 in the prelims, 8.15 in the semifinals, and 8.12 in the finals, placing fifth. Patrice ran a 7.72 in the prelims, a 7.73 in the semifinals and a 7.75 in the finals, for a seventh place finish.

On the other end of the distance spectrum, the Retrievers placed high in the long distance runs as well. Freshman Matt Bennett ran the 5000 meter and took tenth and eleventh place, Bennett clocking in at 15:27.89. Senior Sophia Cologer also ran the 5000 meter trek and placed seventh with the time of 17:31.28.

In the 400 meter dash, junior Urgy Eado placed second with a time of 49.28. Meanwhile, junior Funmi Daramola finished seventh with a time of 57.94. The 4 x 400 relays saw high placements, with the second place time of 3:17.74 run by the men’s team (Cody, Oakley, senior Darrius Oxley and junior John Oputa) and a seventh place time of 3:53.99 run by the women’s team (Daramola, sophomore Amani Wallace and freshmen Kaya Knake and Tori Johnson).

Success was found in the field as well, especially among the freshman crew. Retrievers competed in the heptathlon, shot put, weight throw, and high jump. In the heptathlon, sophomore Christian Kallenberg placed third with a score of 4729, a personal best for him. Freshmen Chase DeWitt and Russell Bowman placed third and fourth in the shot put. Freshman Alexios Prodanas, with a toss of 16.55 meters, placed third in the weight throw. And freshman Jacob Netschke placed sixth in the high jump, his jump of 2.04 meters.

Overall, members of the UMBC track and field Team finished in the top ten throughout several of their events at State College. Their time at State College will continue on Saturday, Feb. 18 at the Penn State Tune-Up Meet.

The post Running to success: UMBC track and field team takes top ten finishes appeared first on The Retriever.

Hi, Everyone!

Our February 1st deadline has passed and our office is buckled down reading all the completed applications! Reminder our FAFSA application deadline is tomorrow! Be sure to submit the application to be considered for need-based aid.

Submitted an application? Not heard from us? Be sure your application is complete! You can keep up to date with your application status by logging into your myUMBC account. Your account will show if there are any documents needed to complete the review.

Application complete? Anxious on when you will hear? I have good news! We have begun sending out admission decisions for fall 2017. We will be sending out our regular decisions in batches throughout the spring.  Do not worry if you have not heard from us. We will be sending out our next batch of admission decision letters within two weeks. All official admission decisions are sent in the mail. Decisions are being sent to freshman and transfer students.

If you have any questions regarding your application or admission, please call our office 410-455-2292!

Happy Valentines,

Elizabeth